Last week, on 05 October, in a room full of people at the CERN Globe of Science and Innovation, we celebrated the World Teachers’ Day 2017.

In what proved to be a unique soirée, the audience had the chance to see Matt Parker, the famous stand-up comedian and mathematics communicator, onstage sharing tips and tricks on how to engage teenagers with mathematics. Matt explained how important it is to find new and creative ways to thrill students and encourage them to view science from a different perspective.

Matt was not alone though! Much to the audience’s amusement, he brought with him a three-volume print of the world’s largest prime number ever found, with more than 22 million digits!

A panel discussion, moderated by Matt Parker, followed, during which Charlotte Warakaulle, CERN’s Director for International Relations, Edda Gschwendtner, CERN Teacher Programmes Lecturer and AWAKE Spokesperson, and David Fairweather, Teacher, engaged into a creative dialogue with the audience.

The key role and value of teachers today in terms of inspiring their students to follow scientific studies, the challenges that the rapid development of technology brings into the teaching and the need to adapt, as well as CERN’s work to support and empower teachers and promote scientific education were a few of the topics discussed. 

This event was organised as part of our ongoing effort to highlight the importance and value of teachers in ensuring quality education and training for the next generation of scientists and engineers, one of CERN’s core missions and essential part of CERN & Society Foundation’s strategic focus.

Learn more about CERN Teacher Programmes and CERN & Society.